After a 41-41 season in Phoenix in 1996, the struggling team was again traded, this time to the Houston Rockets. As a player here, Barkley had back injuries, causing his decision to retire in 2000. During this final season, after playing nineteen games, he tore his left quadriceps tendon completely away from his kneecap (December 8, 1999). Though doctors told him he would never play basketball again, he made a comeback a little over four months later for a single game, scoring one basket in April of 2000, then immediately retiring.

Barkley was a household name and one of the limited number of NBA players to earn a figure in the Starting Lineup toy line, as well as earning his own shoe line created by Nike. However, he is also well known for his aggressiveness on the court (causing fights with the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and Patrick Ewing).

During his NBA career, Barkley earned a total of nearly 24,000 points, averaging 23 points per game, as well as over 12,500 rebounds, averaging almost 12 per game. He was an All-Star player nine times and has been ranked by SLAM Magazine as number nineteen on its 2003 list of the top 75 NBA Players of all time.